Pollution Control in Guwahati : Finally some steps
Finally some eyebrows have been raised on the increasing pollution levels in the city. Guwahati ranks high in the pollution charts of the country competing with metros like Delhi and Calcutta. Though the other cities leapt into action in order to reduce the air pollution causing serious danger to the denizens Guwahati is waking up a tad bit later. The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Assam Oil Division has taken an initiative to convert petrol-run autorickshaws into LPG system in a phased manner. This, if implemented would prove to be a great step towards improving the damaged caused by the increased level of pollution in Guwahati.
The decision by IOC was taken after increased level of carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide and unburnt-hydrocarbon were observed in the city’s atmosphere. These pollutants are causing serious health hazards to the people. Guwahati had seen the introduction of Pollution Testing centres in city which has kept in check the vehicles spewing this dangerous smoke but the system needs to be more streamlined in order to get better results for there are huge anomalies in the procedures of such pollution checks. Many vehicles plying in Guwahati or in different parts of the state for that matter are quite old models unlike their modern Euro II versions which are easier on the environment. Therefore what Guwahati needs is a complete overhaul of its vehicular assets.
The Chief LPG manager, IOC, Assam Oil Division, Ashim Kalita announced that they are planning to convert around 3000 petrol run auto rickshaws into LPG during the current fiscal to control the level of pollution. This step comes in the wake of a drive taken up by IOC in all major cities across the country. However small a step it would go a long way as far as pollution is concerned as it is effecting the environment and particularly pose a lot of danger to children.
Pollution has a disastrous effect on children, a study showed that youngsters who live within 500 metres of major highways develop weaker lungs then those who live at least 1,500 meters away. It also says that traffic pollution could affect lungs of children. James Gauderman of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles followed nearly 3,700 children in the area from age 10, measuring the participants’ functioning of their lungs every year, according to the online edition of New Scientist. As part of the test, the children took a deep breath and exhaled with force into a machine that gauged the volume and speed of air leaving their lungs. By the time they reached age 18, those participants living within 500 metres of a motorway performed significantly worse on the lung function test than their more distant peers.
Therefore, it is important that more such constructive steps are undertaken which will assure our future generations of some pure and quality breathing space.
Random Stories
31 Jul 2014 - 4:25pm |
AT News
Finally, the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti on Thursday agreed to talk to the government. The talks is slated on August 2 in Guwahati. The decision was cleared by KMSS after they broke the fast on...
7 Jun 2012 - 4:43am |
editor
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Wednesday said that the Maoists have close links with all insurgent groups operating in the northeast including the ULFA. Talking to reporters in Delhi, Gogoi said...
26 Sep 2015 - 5:53pm |
AT News Imphal
Manipur is burning. The epicenter is Churachandpur again where women protesters burnt the house of a local leader on Saturday.The incident took place where women protesters in large number the...
11 Nov 2012 - 3:42pm |
Ritupallab Saikia
As in the past, this year too Kaziranga Wildlife Society (KWLS)confer its Lifetime Achievement Award for the year 2012 on a worthy achiever from the state Dr. Padmeswar Gogoi, whose contributions to...
Other Contents by Author
Strife torn Pakistan witnessed yet another blood bath when a suicide bomber detonated himself inches from Pakistan’s former Prime minister Benazir Bhutto after she was leaving an election rally in Rawalpindi’s Liaqat Bagh Park. A gunman also shot her on the neck and chest ensuring that Bhutto does not escape death for a second time. Bhutto had earlier escaped a bid on her life on October 18 at Karachi in which 140 people died. Leaders in Pakistan it seems are either doomed to have violent deaths or are banished from their native lands. Benazir’s father and former Prime minister Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto was hanged in this garrison town in 1979 after a military coup....
JBF (India), Guwahati Chapter inaugurated an Animal Relief Center for street and stray animals at Chandan Nagar, Survey, Beltola. The aim of the relief center is to provide medical help to the stray and street animals. However it also has a treatment cell where privately owned animals will also be treated and the donations received from owners will be used to run the Animal Relief Center.JBF (India) is an organization promoted by JBF(Scotland), a professionally managed organization working in the field of Animal Welfare since the year 2003. JBF (India) is a member of the Society of World Society for Protection of Animals (WSPA). JBF (India) is also a recognized by the Animal Welfare Board...
Star crossed Assam witnessed yet another assault last night when a powerful bomb planted on the tracks ripped off the luggage van of the Rajdhani Express killing five persons and injuring four others. The 2423 A Down Rajdhani Express was proceeding from Dibrugarh to Guwahati between Naojan and Chongajan railway stations in Golaghat district at about 1.06 am on the ill fated night of December 13.Though the police have not yet ascertained the identity of the militants however they claimed that Adivasi National Liberation Army (ANLA) militants were presumed to be behind the blast.A Central team is coming to take stock of the situation in the aftermath of the blast. It is alleged that the Home...
Just as the future of Assam’s handloom dreams had found wings in the form of the GI status of the muga silk a sudden turn of events threatens to clip those wings in the bud as reports of heavy loss in the muga sector starts pouring in.This winter the muga farmers are staring into eyes of a financial crisis with the failure of the Central Silk Board’s (CSB) summer muga crop popularly known as the Bhadiya. Officially the loss is estimated to be of fifteen crores this year however the farmers and dealers claim it to be around fifty crores. The cause of this calamity has been stated as weather related.Assam produces three different varieties of Silk viz, Pat Muga, and Eri or Endi....
The role of the media in today’s society is two fold. It reports the goings on of our society as well as tries to reform its social evils. But there is a certain section of the electronic visual media which also attempts to kick off a controversy by exaggerating their reporting which ultimately leads to a public outcry followed by its repercussions.The recent furor created by the Beltola violence where Adivasi rallyists clashed with locals is a direct result of such a trend. Moreover, it also exposed the gaping ignorance of the national channels regarding the region that is termed the northeast.The media’s attempt to sensationalize the incident of the Beltola clash reached...
Violence has revisited Assam with a vengeance. After a comparatively peaceful period once again Assam bleeds. The unfortunate incident of group clash jolted Assam out of its reverie and has triggered a kind of a chain reaction of bandhs, blasts and increased the probability of ethnic clashes. Ethnic clashes were an alien occurrence in Assam till black Saturday dawned upon the people of Assam on the fateful day of November 24.An allegedly peaceful rally of Adivasi Students’ Association demanding the status of Scheduled Tribes status of the Adivasi community turned into a gory battleground for local residents of Beltola area of Guwahati and the rallyists. Hundreds of vehicles, shops and...
Assam tea has reached new heights with the recent conferring of Geographical Indications label ,GI status to the Orthodox Assam tea. Orthodox tea is the second Assam product to bag the GI label after muga silk. The GI label is exclusive to only a handful of generically identifiable products such as Swiss watches, Czech crystals, champagne, Mysore sandalwood oil and Kancheepuram silk.There are certain requirements that the product has to fulfill before getting the GI status. The products should have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are special to that particular state or place of origin to qualify for the GI status.The GI status is going to be hugely...
“The aim of education is the knowledge not of facts but of values,” a maxim which seems to have lost its true meaning in the rampant commercialization of education in our present day. Value education is an important rung in the ladder of education but sadly our schools and colleges fail to provide the same to our students. Today education has been taken over by the syllabus as education ends with the completion of the syllabus, a trend which in turn has given rise to a number of institutes and universities carrying forward the wheel of education in a mechanical sense.Imparting of knowledge has become a business to certain people who claim to provide various courses for...
Now I know you now I don’t that’s the secret game going on between the former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and his estranged party members. After splits, expulsion, reunions, agreements disagreements the former AGP chief is once again surrounded in controversy as his reputation is once again tarnished by the indictment in the “secret killings” case. Constituted in 2005 the justice (Retd) KN Saikia Commission of Inquiry on Secret Killings carried out between the year 1998 and 2001 after studying 35 cases of the nature of secret killing in four phases, in its report held Mahanta the then chief minister as well as in charge of the home department responsible...
The tourism sector of Assam is a boom waiting to happen. Picturesque landscape, cultural heritage, historical monuments and artifacts all are in abundance here albeit in various stages of neglect. A little effort on the part of the government and people can turn the state into a tourist hub. Many steps are in the pipeline to give the all important push to the fledging tourism industry of the state. One such project jointly funded by the state government and the Centre promises to give a new lease of lie to the neglected Ahom era monuments in Siva sagar district, a project which was initiated by Hemoprava Saikia the chairperson of the Assam Tourism Development Corporation. The budget of...
Comments
Pages
Add new comment